Ryuus2's First Chapter Corner
by Ryuus2
Summary: A place for all the ideas that keep me from working on other stories. Now hosting: Fairies of Fate, Mask Mage of Fairy Tail, Death Becomes Him
1. Chapter 1

Ryuus2's First Chapter Corner

A place for all the ideas that keep me from working on other stories. Now hosting: Fairy's of Fate, Mask Mage, Death Become Him

Foreword

A young man -early 20's, messy red hair, two short curved horns rising from his forehead, gold slit eyes, thin wire glasses, wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows- stepped up to a podium. Before he could even clear his throat, a rather wilted cabbage flew through the air and barely missed his pointy left ear. He yelped and ducked behind the podium before any more expired vegetation could come his way.

"Who the Hell forgot to turn on the Deflector Shield?!" he shouted to the stage crew.

"Sorry!" one technician called. A steady humming noise and slight waver in the air in front of the podium signaled the activation of the shield.

The young man stood back up, only to flinch once more as a particularly overripe orange struck the field and incinerated itself. He breathed a sigh of relief and determined to ignore any more projectile distractions. He straightened his leaf of notes, coughed once and set his eyes on the crowd before him.

"Hello all. I am Ryuus2. Firstly, I would like to apologize to my regular readers that this is yet another update to something other than my established stories. I know I shouldn't be doing this, but it is necessary. As such, I felt I should personally explain to everyone what's going on with this new project of mine, and why I felt I needed to start it.

"As the title say, this is the 'First Chapter Corner', a place for me to dump my new story ideas without crowding up my page with things I don't want to work on while I try to advance my major stories, without slowing my posting rate too badly. Honestly, I should have put 'Key of a Hero' and 'Coordinator Ash' here, but I only recently decided on this project. I have a bad habit of coming up with new story ideas while trying to work on updates, and it's my hope that this project will allow me to better focus on more important projects."

"Yeah right!" a voice heckled from the shadows of the audience. "We've heard that before. You're no better than any other author who says that!"

The horned man flinched as the accusation struck close to home, but brushed it off and glared at the source of the call. "Anonymous Guest flamers who don't have the balls to create an account don't get an opinion." With that, two burly guards appeared next to the shadowy, indistinct mass and stuffed it in a box marked 'Sturdy: Handle with Sledgehammers' and carried it off.

Ryuus2 stared until the guards had cleared out before returning his attention to the audience. "Sorry about that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but worms like that are just an annoyance. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that, and assure you that I will finish my other stories, sometimes I just need to clear my head-*thud* Yeeooouch!" he cried out when a size 10 boot came flying out of the crowd to smack him square in the face. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Sorry! My bad!" the same technician from before shouted. "I thought you were done, so I turned off the shield!"

"Okay, that is it! It's the Rancor pit for you!"

"Uh, but we don't have a Rancor pit."

Fuming, the horned man flicked his wrist and a small spiral journal with stone covers appeared in his left hand. He flipped to a random page, pulled out a pen, and started writing. A few seconds later, he closed the journal with a snap, just as a pull-cord appeared next to his head. "We do now," he said, then pulled the cord.

The technician gave a startled scream as the ground fell out beneath him. The scream was quickly replaced by one of abject terror, followed by a horrible roar and meaty crunch.

Ryuus2 nodded to himself then turned to the audience. "Now, who threw that boot?" he asked with a smirk. His smirk turned positively predatory at the resulting silence. "That's what I thought." His smile immediately brightened into a much more welcoming grin. "Now, please enjoy the stories! I look forward to your critiques and reviews!"


	2. Fairies of Fate

Entry 1: Fairy's of Fate

Straight up Fate/Stay Night and Fairy Tail crossover fusion. Fate characters in Fairy Tail universe.

* * *

Prologue: Forged in Fire

'_I'm pretty sure this is what Hell is supposed to look like,'_ thought the man as he limped through the maelstrom of burning houses, burning trees, and burning bodies the town had become. The man was tall and pale, with frizzy black hair that hung all around his head, wearing a two-piece suit with a trench coat thrown over his vest and tie, all in black. Dark eyes that were usually emotionless now desperately scanned the area for any sign of life in the burning wasteland that was once a city called Fuyuki.

Everything was alight, the air choked with smoke and embers. The only signs of life the corpses that littered the streets, most burning, the rest soon-to-be. There was nothing here to save anymore. But that wouldn't stop him. He would keep looking until he was sure that there was nothing left, that there was no one he could save.

All he could feel was the fire's searing heat, all he could smell was the smoke, all he could taste was the ash, all he could see was the destruction, and all he could hear was the crackling fire that consumed all. But he wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop. And then he heard it; a sound, something that wasn't fire and smoke and death and ash.

"Cough."

He froze at the half-heard, half-dreamed noise. His mind told him that almost nothing could survive this long inside this Hell. His heart had already abandoned hope. His soul didn't care. Channeling his magic, he Reinforced his ears and _listened_.

"Cough, cough."

He was off before the last cough, racing toward the source of the sound. He raced through two blocks of burning wasteland before he found the body. It was a young boy in blue pajamas and a yellow raincoat lying face up in the middle of the road. He knelt next to the boy and examined him. His hair was such a vivid orange he almost thought it was on fire, his skin ashen grey from a combination of deathly pale skin and ash, and his brown eyes were glassy and lifeless. He could feel a spark of magic within the boy, and assumed that is what had kept him alive this long. Even now he could see that spark fading along with his pulse; but, he still had a pulse, and that was the most important thing right now. The man knew what he had to do.

Holding his hand in front of his chest, the man summoned forth the mythical item stored within himself by the ally he had betrayed in the end. He hoped that she'd be able to forgive him one day.

The item was a scabbard for a long sword, roughly triangular and colored blue with gold engravings and scrollwork from base to tip. It was almost as majestic and beautiful as the sword it was meant to hold. And its ability to heal was equal to its partner's power to destroy. The man laid the sheath on the boys chest and activated it by intoning its name. "Avalon."

The sheath melted into starlight and flowed into the boy where it settled and began the process of healing him. In moments the boys heartbeat strengthened and he began breathing again.

The harsh lines of the mans face quickly softened into a smile of pure elation. He had given almost everything to this 'war'. He had lost the assistant who was like a daughter to him. He had lost his wife, and her family would likely keep their daughter from him. He had sacrificed his honor and that of the most noble warrior he had ever met to the Holy Grail to win the war, then destroyed the tainted artifact with his wish; he could feel the curse it placed on him eating away at his body and magic already. But he had saved this boy. Kiritsugu Emiya had saved someone, and that was all that mattered to him.

* * *

And there we go. It doesn't really showcase anything explicitly from FT, but that would come later. The premise would be that a young Shirou Emiya would go to join Fairy Tail not long after his father's death, and then I would explore how the characters from F/SN would work within the world of FT. I don't really have much of what would be considered a plot for this, and won't really be putting any effort into it in the foreseeable future.


	3. Mask Mage of Fairy Tail

After his adventures in Termina, Link moved on in his quest to find his lost companion Navi. When he told them, they asked, "Do fairies have tails?"

Crossover: Fairy Tail & The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

* * *

Entry 2: Mask Mage of Fairy Tail

Chapter 1: Dawn of a New Day

It was a beautiful day for a wedding. Kafei, no longer trapped in the body of a child but returned to his full-grown Hylian form, smiled wider than the grinning Moon as he watched the woman of his dreams walk up the aisle. Anju dazzled in her white gown, her face lit with a smile that was brighter than the sun at finally being able to marry her true love.

There wasn't much of a turnout for the wedding, maybe a dozen people, and mostly familiar faces. Kafei's parents, Madam Aroma and the mayor, stood across from Anju's mother and grandmother at the front. Cremia, Romani, and the guard captain stood on Anju's side, while the curiosity shop owner and the head of the festival committee stood on Kafei's. The rest were all people who had started to trickle back into town for the festival when they realized the world hadn't ended.

Link smiled from the back of the crowd, happy to see that his hard work during the many time loops it took to defeat Majora had not gone to waste. He had stressed greatly on how to help as many people as possible during the final loop, and had to pick and choose carefully who to help, and who to leave until after the world was saved. He had been surprised when he went to see some of the people he hadn't helped on the final time loop, only to find that their problems, and in fact everyone's problems, had been solved. Fortunately, someone had been able to explain things to him...

**=Flashback=**

Link blacked out after the battle within the Moon. When he awoke, he was in South Termina Field being watched over by Epona, Tatl, and Tayl. And the first thing he saw was the moon-free sky over Clock Town.

He watched as the Skull Kid reconciled with the four guardian Giants who had held the Moon aloft to protect Clock Town and buy him time to defeat Majora. He was relieved to see that his fellow child of the Lost Wood had returned to its old self, and happily accepted his offer of friendship.

The Happy Mask Salesman paid them a surprise visit and reclaimed Majora's Mask. "But my, you sure have managed to make quite a number of people happy. The masks you have are filled with happiness. This is truly a good happiness."

Link cocked his head quizzically, not understanding the odd mans' cryptic message. The salesman simply chuckled and told Link to go and see for himself at the festival, then bid them his farewells.

So Link did as the salesman said and returned to town. But things didn't add up. The people he checked on, the ones he hadn't managed to help on the final loop, were all fine.

There was only one place he could think to go for answers to this mystery. If anyone would know what was going on, the Great Fairy would. So he went to the Southern District and climbed up to the ledge where the Fairy Fountain was hidden. His entrance alone was enough to summon the scantily clad spirit, who floated before him in a relaxed, flirty pose.

"Congratulations Little Hero. Thanks to you this land and its people were saved. But that is not what brings you here today, now is it?"

Link thought carefully for a moment, then did something very rare for him. Exposition. "I've spent a month here, reliving the same three days, helping everyone that I could. I tried to find a way to help everyone several times, but I couldn't do it all and still have enough strength left to fight off Majora. On the last loop, I had to pick carefully not only who I could help, but also who most needed my help, and who could wait until after the Mask was dealt with. So why-how have everyone's problems been fixed?"

The Great Fairy grinned warmly at him. "This land is watched over by the smiling Moon; all within are under his protection. Though his motions were controlled by the demon of the mask, his spirit was left free to watch, and suffer, knowing what he would be forced to do. And in his time of greatest despair, he saw you, fighting for the sake of his land and people. He felt a spark of hope, and so sent his emissary, the Horned Owl, to watch you and assist you in any way that it could. Once he was freed of the mask's thrall, the Moon's power was restored, and in thanks for your actions he made it so that all of your many good deeds went fulfilled. Every single person you helped in your adventures has retained the benefits of your deeds."

Link felt a great weight lift from his shoulders when he heard that.

"Now go little hero; you above all have earned the right to enjoy the festival."

**=Flashforward=**

And so Link had; or, had tried to. Only a few people had remained in town to see the Moon fall. There weren't enough left to host a party, let alone a festival. So after checking on those who remained one more time, he left Clock Town. Though peace had finally come to Termina, there were those even he couldn't save, and those who deserved to know.

He trudged into the depths of the Southern Swamp in search of the Deku King's Butler, and then led him back to the tunnels where he started his quest, to where he had encountered the withered husk of a young Deku Scrub. He placed the Deku Mask in the aged Scrub's hands and left him to grieve for his son.

To the North, high on top of Snowpoint Mountain, he told the Elder Goron the story of Darmani's last stand at Snowpoint Temple and his own tale of the trials within. The elder accepted his apology for deceiving them, but refused the mask of their hero when it was offered to him. The only explanation the elder gave was that "Heroes should travel together and support each other." Link promised he would protect the mask and honor Darmani's legacy before leaving.

In the Western Sea, at Zora Hall, after one last performance with the Indigo-Go's, he took Lulu aside to tell her the true fate of Mikau, of his fatal attempt to save her eggs from the Gerudo pirates. She accepted Link's explanation tearfully, and thanked him for all he had done to honor her lover. Link gave her the mask of the warrior and rock star and left her to mourn in peace.

He considered returning some of his other masks, but decided there was no reason. Most of his masks had been presents or awards earned during his travels. The few others he had received from the departed, and there wasn't anyone to return them to. So, after a night in the now monsterless western fields, he returned to Clock Town just in time for the wedding.

He spent the rest of the day enjoying the festival with the people he had come to know. Later that night, the Milk Bar hosted the largest party in Clock Town. The Rosa Sisters and Indigo-go's performed, Cremia watched fondly as Romani took her first sips of Chateau Romani, Kafei's family cried about the wedding that almost wasn't, the postman was passed out in the corner, and Link watched them all from his own seat at the end of the bar. He slipped out of the bar before it got too late, before anyone could get drunk enough to try figuring out how he knew everyone in the bar despite only being there a few days. He thought he'd gotten out unnoticed, but someone had seen him.

Lulu followed him out and caught up to him not far from the bar. She presented him the Zora Mask, saying that Mikau would have wanted him to keep it. Seeing the sorrow and determination in her eyes, he knew there was nothing he could say to change her mind, so he nodded and took the mask. He watched her compose herself and head back to the bar, then continued on his way to the hotel, where he was looking forward to his first night of sleep without the fate of the world literally hanging over his head for the first time in a long while.

* * *

Link watched the sun set one last time over Termina field from the edge of the Lost Woods the Skull Kid had shown him to and sighed wearily. It was finally over. No more resetting time. No more reintroducing himself to everyone he ran in to. No more cheating the Banker out of his money. No more grinning Moon dominating the sky. Link was finally free to resume his quest for his lost fairy friend.

Link had been surprised that morning when the Deku Butler had sought him out in Clock Town and returned the Deku Mask to him. He insisted that Link keep the mask and continue using it to do good. His son had always wanted to be an adventurer.

Mounting his trusty steed, Link bid one final silent farewell to the land and people he had grown uncomfortably close with, and set off into the mists once again.

Link and Epona slept that night under the bows of the ancient trees, curled up in a hollow lined with springy grass. In the morning they began their trek through the Lost Woods once more, letting Destiny determine their path through the mystical forest.

A fog rolled in part way through morning. It was so thick that Link could hardly see Epona's back while astride her. They traveled slowly through the soup, eyes straining to see past their noses, ears perked for any sound other than their own breathing and Epona's hooves crunching the slick grass below.

Eventually the sound of grass under-hoof was replaced with the crinkling of dry leaves, and the fog finally began to thin. After hours of traipsing through the fog, horse and rider finally came free of it into the light of the midday sun. The spring air was crisp and fresh, the underbrush full of the rustle of small animals, the air full of birdsong. Link knew instantly that they had left the Lost Woods. The feel of magic in the air was not the same as that of his childhood home, neither were the trees, nor the animals. He was not in any part of Hyrule or Termina he had ever visited.

A great crash and scream broke the peace of the forest off in the distance. Link tensed at the sound and focused his hearing in the direction of the noise. There was more crashing, followed by a faint scream. Link puffed out a short sigh, then steered Epona in the direction of the commotion.

A new land, a new adventure, a new challenge. A heroes work was never done.

* * *

Young Natsu was not having a good day. He had just spent most of the morning following monster tracks in the woods alongside Lisanna in the hope that they would lead him to his absent father, the fire dragon Igneel. Unfortunately, the tracks were not those of Igneel, but of a particularly ornery forest vulcan that Natsu had defeated earlier that week, and would have already defeated again had it not taken Lisanna hostage after ambushing them. It had quickly taken advantage of the situation and ruthlessly started beating the small boy, kicking and punching him around the clearing.

Natsu was on his last legs, but that wouldn't stop him. He charged once more, only to get kicked away so hard that he cratered the tree he hit before falling to the ground.

"Natsu!" Lisanna cried from the ape-man's giant fist. This was all her fault. If she hadn't been trying to cheer Natsu up after Gildarts beat him, then this never would have happened. "Please! Somebody help!"

Just then, a brown pony broke through the brush to the left of the Vulcan. Riding the pony was a young boy in green about the two mages age who took in the scene at a glance. He drew a bow from seemingly nowhere and notched an arrow without his mount slowing or veering in the slightest. The arrow shined blue with power, and the boy let it fly at the Vulcan, hitting the arm holding Lisanna. Though the arrow itself would usually only be enough to annoy the monster, the ice that quickly started encasing its arm was more worrisome, and caused the ape to let go of the girl, who fell onto the back of the still galloping pony with an "oof!"

The green boy quickly steered his mount towards the other child in the clearing while the distracted Vulcan flailed around, trying to remove the ice from its arm. Just as the children reached Natsu, the ape noticed that its prey was escaping with the newest interloper and bellowed in rage. It smashed its good arm into its frozen one and shattered the ice encasing it. Seeing this happen, the green boy quickly pulled Natsu onto the pony while sliding off himself. He gave the pony a swift slap on the rump and a "Hyyaaah!" to get it running once more. The last the two mage children saw of the boy was him turning to face the giant ape, drawing a sword and shield in the process.

They rode through the forest, the boy slung across the front and green in the face, the girl bent over him to clutch the pony's mane and her eyes shut tight in fear at the wild dash after their terrifying ordeal. The pony suddenly came to a stop as it ran into a wall of a man.

"Whoa there! Whoa! Easy now, easy," the man said as he expertly reined the young horse in. Once it had calmed down enough, he turned to the two kids on its back that he'd been looking for. "Are you two alright, Natsu, Lisanna?" the man asked.

The girl finally looked up when the pony stopped running, and recognized the man instantly. "Gildarts-san! Quick, we have to help him!"

"Him? Who, Natsu?" he asked, glancing at the motion sick boy.

"No! The boy in green! He came out of nowhere and saved us from the Vulcan, but then he stayed behind to fight it! Please, we have to hurry!"

The man's face set in a serious line and he ran off the way they had come, following the trail the pony left in its wake.

* * *

The boy, meanwhile, was panting as he faced his opponent. He'd spent the past few minutes dodging, jumping and rolling out of the way of the wild ape-man, striking whenever he could at its hands, legs, and feet. He hadn't managed to get a clear shot yet with the way it had been rampaging, but it seemed that the pain in its limbs had finally reached its brain and caused it to back off and rethink its approach. Link was perfectly happy to allow the monster this moment to collect itself while he caught his breath and looked for an opening he could exploit in the monkey's guard so he could end the fight quickly.

The ape-man was surprisingly intelligent and resistant. It proved that when it successfully caught him with a feint during their last exchange. It was only a glancing blow, but there was enough force behind it to throw Link across the clearing. Link grabbed the Bunny Hood from his pack and put it on. He'd need the speed to finish this.

The ape-man charged with a roar. Link replied with his own charge that turned into a roll between the monster's legs. With the added speed of the mask he was able to recover faster than the beast could react and follow up with a jump attack to its back. The gilded sword did not bite as deeply as he'd hoped, but the wound wasn't nearly as shallow as the others he'd managed to land so far. The cut was as long as a grown man was tall and bled freely.

The monster screamed in pain and rage. It renewed its attack with a vengeance. If not for his enhanced speed and experience Link would have been mauled in seconds. As it was, he still managed to double the number of bruises and scrapes he'd already acquired by the time his opponents enraged strength died out enough for them to separate again.

Link was exhausted. He hadn't expected his opponent to be this durable. He'd used up most of his energy just dodging it's attacks, and only landed one telling blow. Fortunately, though the ape-man was durable, it either didn't have much endurance or it was finally starting to feel the blood loss. Its arms and legs had stopped bleeding but were caked in blood from its wounds, and Link knew that the wound in its back was still bleeding, if not as badly as before.

He couldn't go another full round with this beast without drinking one of his potions, and he knew that his opponent would jump on the opportunity that provided. He needed to end this with the next attack. He calmed his breathing and slid into a new stance, slightly crouching, his right arm and shield braced in front of him, his left arm and sword held perfectly straight behind him, and began pushing mana into his blade for his signature attack.

The vulcan was worried. It could feel the boy gathering magic for a spell, and it couldn't afford to take anymore damage than it already had. There was no choice, it'd have to use its Take Over magic to possess the boy and recover from its wounds. Then it'd go hunting for those other children and finish what it started. With a final mighty roar, it leaped at the boy with its arm extended and its spell ready to use as soon as it had him in its grasp.

It never got that close. At the last second, Link released his Charged Spin Attack with a mighty "HYYYAAAAA!" Turning himself into a small bladed tornado, he sent the ape-man flying across the clearing and through one of the larger trees. Link fell to his knees, panting in exhaustion, but grinning. That Spin Attack took more out of him than he thought it would, but it looked like it did the trick. With any luck, the monster wouldn't be getting up again for a long time.

A loud groan from where the beast fell wiped the grin off Link's face. He let out a matching groan as he watched the Vulcan pull itself back up to its feet. He fell back on his butt and started rifling through his pouch for one of his potions. The minute it would take the beast to reach him probably wouldn't be enough for him to find the right potion and drink it, in his condition, but he'd never know until he tried. His hand finally closed on the cool glass of a bottle, and he pulled it out just as the beast limped back into the clearing. Just his luck, it was one of his empty storage bottles. He replaced the bottle and felt around for another, even as his eyes sought out his opponents. It was possible he could still find a potion in time, but if he didn't, he'd meet his fate as he always had: staring it in the eye defiantly.

The next thing he knew there was a man standing in front of him exerting a magical pressure he hadn't felt since his battle with Majora's final form. It was so great that it took his breath away in his weakened state. But he could tell that the monster had it worse. It was shivering in terror as it looked at the man. "Leave now, and never return," the man said to the monster. It immediately jumped up and ran away, the terror induced adrenaline rush enough to make it momentarily forget its wounds and run as fast as it could.

Gildarts turned around to check on the kid, only to find that his killing intent had been too great for him to withstand in his weakened state. Link had passed out. "Ah. Oops?"

* * *

Just to clarify, this covered the two days directly following the events of Majora's Mask. And I know how the Fairy Tail part originally went, but I wanted to change it, so I did.


	4. Death Becomes Him

Harry didn't realize that the stone was the Resurrection Stone, or that he was a Horcrux, so there was no self-sacrifice: just one big ass battle in front of Hogwarts. Now Death is giving him another chance...whether he wants it or not. Sense he's stuck reliving his life, he might as well have a bit of fun with it :D

Crossover: Harry Potter & Sandman  
Pairing: Harry Potter & Death the Endless

* * *

Entry 3: Death Becomes Him

It was over. The Horcruxes were destroyed, the Death Eaters were dead or captured, and Voldemort was finally -definitely- dead.

Harry sighed as he leaned back in Dumbledore's very comfy chair in the deceased headmaster's old office. Though he supposed that now he'd have to get used to calling it the headmistress's office, as soon as Professor McGonagall officially accepted the promotion.

He took another sip from the glass of firewhiskey he'd been nursing for the past half hour, ever since he'd managed to get away from the impromptu infirmary that had been set up for survivors of the battle in the Great Hall. He'd been one of the lucky ones, only suffering from exhaustion. His mind, his body, his magic: you name it, he'd exhausted it. Others hadn't been so lucky. Fred had lost an ear, Ron had been Crucio'd into unconsciousness, Hermione took a blasting curse to the chest from Bellatrix, Ginny and Luna got hit with shrapnel from another curse, Hagrid was in critical condition after being bitten by Nagini in her death throws, Cho lost an eye to Rookwood...almost everyone he knew had been injured while he had been busy fighting Voldemort. The lucky ones would see the new day rise with scars and stories to tell their kids and grandkids...the unlucky ones would never know a world without Voldemort's shadow.

George, Tonks, Remus, Professor Sprout, Snape, Crabbe, Goyle, Colin, Ernie, and others he didn't know who'd come to fight anyway, had all given everything they had to bring an end to the dark times. Their sacrifices would be remembered; there were already talks of statues and Order of Merlins.

Harry drained his glass to drive their faces from his mind. He leaned forward to refill it when he felt something poke him in the thigh. He pulled the offending object from his pocket as he poured, only to find the stone Dumbledore had willed to him. He'd forgotten all about it in the chaos of the past few days. He sat back in the chair with his now full glass of firewhisky, absently rolling the stone around in his hand. Now that he had the time, he wondered again what the old man had intended when he gave him the stone. He wished he could ask him if he'd gotten everything right, if there hadn't been another way. He'd hoped to quiz the former headmaster's portrait, but it had been vacant since his arrival, just like all the others. He supposed that the former heads of Hogwarts were giving him some much needed time to pick himself up after the day he'd had. _"Well, it's not like I can't ask him later,"_ he thought as he took another sip of his drink-

"Hello Harry."

-only to spit the amber liquid over the old mahogany desk. He looked up into the twinkling eyes of the closest thing he'd ever had to a grandfather. Well, his ghost anyway.

"I didn't take you for the drinking type, Harry," the ghost of Dumbledore said conversationally.

"I'm not. I heard it was supposed to take the edge off. I've had a very...busy day." He knew it was a lame answer, but he was tired and just drunk enough to not care.

"Yes, I had heard something about that on the other side. Bits and pieces mostly. It can take some time for the recently departed to get their facts straight."

"Oh, really? You learn something new every day. But speaking of the departed, what brings you here? And why not a few hours ago when I could have used your help piecing your plan together?" Harry asked, taking another sip of his whiskey. He supposed he could have put a bit more emotion and less sarcasm into his questions, but the firewhiskey was leaving him with a relaxing warmth that made everything seem less horrible, and he really didn't want to ruin that.

"I suppose some explanations are in order," Dumbledore said. He sat in a chair across from Harry and sank halfway through the seat before correcting himself. Harry grinned at the discomfort on the ghosts face. Apparently 'always in control Dumbledore' had yet to get the hang of his ghostly body. Dumbledore acted like nothing had happened and started his explanation. "The reason I am here now is because of that stone in your hand." Harry started and held up the stone he hadn't realized he was still holding on to. "Yes, that's the one. I had hoped you would determine the use of the stone earlier, or that Miss Granger would have made the connection between it and her book." He paused to see if Harry had managed to connect the dots yet, but the boy-who-lived was perfectly content to listen for now and sip his whiskey. Dumbledore didn't leave him waiting for long. "That stone is the fabled Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hollows; the companion to the Elder Wand I once held and your own Invisibility Cloak," he said with a nod to the items lying on the side of the desk where Harry had left them when he'd walked in, along with his own broken wand, its brother he had taken from Voldemort's remains, and the wand he'd won from Draco months ago. Harry wondered when he'd become such a collector, and absently mused about mounting some of them later on.

The ghostly headmaster wasn't done. "Though I would like to congratulate you on accomplishing the task I had spent much of my life trying to realize, I'm afraid that there is still work to be done."

Dumbledore's tone brought Harry's drink-addled mind back on task. "What do you mean, Sir? Voldemort's dead, the horcruxes are all destroyed, and the Death Eaters are all dead or in chains. We won. It's over."

"I'm afraid you are only mostly right, Harry. Voldemort is not yet dead."

Harry felt all the blood drain from his head down to somewhere around his ankles. He would have dropped his glass of whiskey if it hadn't been sitting on the arm rest already. He croaked out the only word his suddenly dry throat could manage. "No."

"I am afraid so, Harry. Tom had one final horcrux that you failed to identify. He still lives: a fraction of a fraction of himself and almost completely inhuman, but still alive in some way."

Harry felt the blood return to his face with a surge of anger and determination. "So he's got one piece left? Fine. I'll destroy it like I did all the others. I've got the Sword of Gryffindor back and more Basilisk venom than I can ever use. All I need to know is the where and what so I can end it for good."

"I fear it will not be as simple as you think-"

"I have gone through too much, lost too many people to give that bastard even a fraction of a chance to come back again," Harry cut him off angrily, with steel in his voice and fire in his eyes. "The hardest part of horcrux hunting is finding and identifying the horcrux, and I'm certain you already know where to find it and what it looks like, otherwise you wouldn't be telling me this. No more games and no more riddles. Just tell me what I need to know so I can finish this."

Harry could see the headmaster's ghostly eyes age indescribably as he said what Harry had demanded of him. "You will not have far to look. The 'where' is this very office. And the 'what'...is you."

Harry could feel his blood drain down to his toes once more as cold sweat beaded across his body. He was suddenly very sober. He wanted to believe it was all a lie, but it all made sense now. _This_ was the piece of the puzzle he had been missing earlier. This was the answer to all his questions. This was the proof that he'd gotten everything wrong. And he knew what he had to do to make it right.

"I have to die." Harry said it as barely a whisper, but the certainty of it was clear as day.

"I'm sorry Harry. I am so very sorry. But for Voldemort to cease to be, sacrifices must be made-"

"Sacrifices have been made!" Harry roared. "Remus, Tonks, Sirius, my parents! Almost everyone I've ever loved has died because of that monster!" he raged, flinging his glass of whiskey across the room to shatter against a bookcase.

The only sound in the room was Harry's heavy breathing, but that was quickly quieting down. Even the various gadgets lining the walls had stilled.

Harry slumped bodily into his chair and let the silence wash over him for a few minutes. Finally, when the silence started to feel deafening, he looked up into Dumbledore's eyes and with great resignation said, "for the greater good, right?"

He reached for his wand on instinct, before remembering to go for Malfoy's wand. Looking over his wand collection, his eyes settled on the Elder Wand and his mind flashed to all the trouble he went through to get it away from Voldemort...only to tell everyone on the battlefield that he was the true master of the most sought after wand in history.

Somehow it seemed fitting to end the cycle of killing with his own death.

Before his nerve cold fail him, he picked up the Elder Wand and cast the one spell he never thought he would, least of all on himself. "Avada Kedavra."

The green flash was so bright that he instinctively closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was quite surprised. Apparently the afterlife looked exactly like the Headmaster's office, complete with a gaping now-in-color headmaster and a fuming pale girl with raven locks wearing black punk clothes and a silver necklace with some kind of cross on it.

"What the hell were you thinking, Wonderboy?!" she demanded angrily.

"Er, excuse me?" Harry asked, not as suprised by the unexpected verbal assault as he should be due to long practice. He looked to Dumbledore for help, but he didn't seem to be coming out of his gaping fit anytime soon. Harry turned back to the girl and asked, "Who are you, exactly?"

Her response was as sudden and blunt as her entrance. "Death."

Harry blinked in surprise. He took a closer look at her this time. She was petit, shorter than him even, with longish ebony hair in a weird spiky up do, wearing skinny black jeans, black boots, a black strap tee with a band name he vaguely recognized, and enough fine silver jewelry on her arms and ears to rent a small flat. Her eyes were almost the same shade of killing-curse green as his own, and filled with a depth of knowledge and wisdom that exceeded what he had ever seen in his own headmasters eyes. Her glare seemed to notch up a few points at his scrutiny. "Sorry, but, you're not what I was expecting."

"And what were you expecting?" she asked sarcastically. "A skeleton in a robe maybe? With fiery red eyes and lugging a great big scythe?" As she spoke, she started to morph into what she described: her flesh paled until it seemed transparent over the bones within, her tight shirt shook in an invisible wind and billowed out into a voluminous robe, and her eyes lit up with a red light. "Maybe you'd prefer the reaper," she hissed through her transparent lips.

When an ethereal scythe started to manifest in her nearly transparent hand, Harry cracked. "Wait! The cute moody girl look is perfectly fine with me!"

The transformation stopped abruptly. Death flickered back and forth between reaper and Goth girl a few times before settling on her original form, except now she sported a smug grin instead of the piercing glare from before.

Harry sighed in relief as the mood lightened. Then he remembered what he was doing and the tension returned. "So. I'm dead?" he asked carefully.

"Nope," she said, her grin faling to a serious line.

"Huh? But I just cast the killing curse-"

"No, you just _tried_ to cast the killing curse _with the Elder Wand,_" she cut him off. "In case you hadn't realized yet, that wand is not normal. It's one of my artifacts, and thus incredibly powerful compared to most wands-especially in the hands of its true master. And with that master also in command of both of its sibling artifacts, it's never been stronger. It wasn't about to give that up, nor would it willingly harm its master, so instead of knocking just your soul into the astral plane like you wanted it to, it instead sent your body along with it. Or hadn't you noticed that you still had a body?"

Harry started in surprise. He looked from the floor below him to the chair behind him. She was right, there was no body in sight. And he was pretty sure ghosts didn't get pounding headaches like the one he felt coming on. He reached for the nearest headache aid, namely the still half-full bottle of firewhiskey, only for his hand to pass right through it. He stared at his hand for a moment in surprise, then he sighed in exasperation. "Of course. Only I could screw up killing myself this badly," he grumbled. He turned back to the straight-faced embodiment of Death and just-recovering Dumbledore. "So how do I get back?"

"I can send you back," she said, making Harry hope. "But I won't."

Harry scowled, but remembering who he was dealing with let him rein in his anger. Barely. "Why not?!"

"Because you'd just try to kill yourself again, for all the good it wouldn't do," she said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean? I have to die so Voldemort can't return!" he nearly screamed. Harry's head was pounding and his breath was heavy. He couldn't take much more of this. It was supposed to be over! But then Dumbledore had to show up and tell him it _wasn't_, and he had to kill himself and _fail_, and now Death herself was saying she could help him but _wouldn't_, and-

"Except that you're already too late."

Harry's train of thought stopped as abruptly as his panic attack. "What?" he whispered with what little air he could force out of his lungs.

"Tommy boy has already found a new host, so he'll be back eventually. And this time he'll make sure you're unable to stop him."

Harry collapsed bonelessly into his chair. "It's hopeless."

"I wouldn't say that." She waited until Harry locked his blank eyes on to hers before finishing. "I want him dead too. And I'm willing to help make sure that happens."

"Might I ask why?" Dumbledore asked, having finally recovered from his earlier surprise.

"He has defiled life and death to escape me, and I cannot allow that to go on. It disturbs the balance too much. So I'm going to help you."

"Then, you _will_ send Harry back to fulfill the prophecy?"

"No. It's already too late for that. The prophecy is already completed, and not in Harry's favor. Sending him back out there now won't do any good."

"But then how do you plan to help him, exactly?"

"I'm going to send him back to the beginning to try again."

"The beginning?" he asked. His sharp mind quickly deduced her meaning. "You intend to send him back in time?"

"Yep."

"Wait, what?" Harry interrupted. "You've gotta be kidding. How is sending me back in time going to fix anything? I've time traveled before, and in the one day I went back I nearly died another half dozen times! It only worked because I had Hermione covering me and I got stupidly lucky. Sending me back would just get me killed sooner. So thanks, but no thanks."

Death frown at him. "You don't actually have a choice."

"But what about the time stream, and the butterfly effect, and- and-!" Harry tried to recall anything else Hermione had ranted about in third year when explaining the dangers of time travel to him.

Death shrugged his concerns away. "Eh, all of that stuff works itself out eventually. Time is a lot less breakable than mortals give it credit for," she said. "Now you might feel a slight pinch and some queasiness, but that'll go away eventually." With a snap of her fingers, Harry's world faded to black.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, Harry didn't know where he was. He immediately ticked off the places he usually woke up: not enough white for the Hospital Wing, too big for Ron's room, too dirty for Privett Drive, too cold for his dorm, not cluttered enough for the tent, and not Grimmauld Place. Dirty and cold as is was, this place didn't have the same tinge of evil in the air. So where was he?

He sat up from where he'd been sleeping on the floor and looked around. The house was old, made of worn wood that creaked loudly as the storm raged outside. It was more of a shack than a house now that he thought about it. The room was undecorated except for a cold fireplace and a battered couch. There was a bulbous lump snoring on the couch that looked vaguely familiar. It kind of reminded him of his cousin Dudley when...he...was... "Oh shit."

He looked down at the new watch on his cousins arm that was hanging off the couch. It read 11:59 and counting.

Harry remembered this. He remembered this place, this situation, this _time_.

The watch beeped 12. It was midnight June 31, 1991, and he was now 11 years old. He knew what was going to happened next.

"No."

KNOCK

He was on a rock in the middle of the sea about to find out he was a wizard for the second time. He'd have to go through everything he'd ever been through just like he had before.

"No no no."

KNOCK

Harry almost cried. Why couldn't Voldemort have ever gotten killing him right, just once, and spared him the torture he was about to go through?

"No no no no no!"

With one final echoing KNOCK the door of the shack fell off its hinges and a giant of a man stooped to fit through the opening. "Happy Birthday Harry!" Ruebeus Hagrid shouting happily, even as his Aunt and Uncle stumbled out of there room and leveled frightened looks and a shotgun at the man.

Harry Potter was going back to school.

* * *

I know it's an Ahnk. You know it's an Ahnk. But Harry doesn't even know what an Ahnk is.

I know it says this is supposed to be humorous, and it is. I just had to get the dark stuff out of the way first so I could move on to the funny stuff.


End file.
